Education

HoneyBook | 5 reasons I love it

When I started photographing back in 2010, my number one goal was to produce quality work. Back then things had to be simple, primarily because most of the amazing tools we have today were non-existent. A lot has changed since those early years and I have grown so much since then. Nowadays, producing quality work is a given so my number one goal now is to provide an incredible experience from start to finish.

With the increase in business, I knew I needed to make some practical changes soon. If I didn’t, it wouldn’t be long before I wouldn’t be able to give a consistent client experience. Up until a few weeks ago, I still used paper contracts and my payment format was by check. I would file all the paperwork away in folders for each client and then keep them in a filing rack. But this is the digital age I knew there had to be a better and smarter way of doing this!

Last Fall, I first heard about HoneyBook from one of my favorite photographers, Natalie of Natalie Franke Photography. I was interested so I contacted HoneyBook and booked a demonstration to see how everything worked! I loved the program but wasn’t ready to commit just yet. I continued to do my research to make sure I chose what was right for me. But HoneyBook continued to stay in the lead. I liked that this system allowed me to electronically send contracts to my clients and that they could sign them online! But by far the biggest selling point was how their pricing was structured!

A few weeks ago, I finally decided it was the right time to make the investment! So I called HoneyBook and went through a quick demo to hear about the new features added since the last demo. I was especially excited when I heard about some of their new features like the option to do a bank transfer for only a 1.5% transaction fee!! Since I started the transition to Honeybook I have booked two weddings and the booking process has been so seamless! I love how efficient this system is and how easy it is for me to keep up with the entire booking process! Honeybook has impressed me in so many ways. I am excited to share with you 5 reasons why I love HoneyBook!

Customer Service
Honeybook has first class service and takes care of their clients extraordinarily well! Their help desk is always available to answer any questions. If I ever have a question, I receive feedback almost immediately! From, “How do I send a proposal?” to “How do I create a brochure?” they are always available to answer any questions you may have! Also, right after I signed up, they asked me for my current contracts, questionnaires and pricing guides so they could set it up for me!! By the next day, I had all of my packages, contracts, and questionnaires set up and ready to be sent out to clients! How amazing is that?!

It’s Completely Customizable
With HoneyBook, you can brand everything on the site so your clients see your logo and photos. Not only is it customizable but it’s personable, appealing and matches the style you want to present to your clients. The site is also simple and easy to use for both clients and business owners!

Accept Payments Online
This was such a huge game changer! It wasn’t horrible asking my clients to mail me checks, but in this day in age, it wasn’t the most convenient process. The ability to make a bank transfer through the site for only a 1.5% processing fee was the selling point for me! Credit card processing fees are around 3% so having the bank transfer option instead is awesome!!

See the Big Picture
When you open HoneyBook the first page you will see is called the “Pipeline”. It’s like a birds eye view of your business! Here you can physically see how HoneyBook keeps track of where your clients are at in the booking process. It’s like a personal assistant. You can track the status of all your projects in one place. Whether it’s an inquiry, a follow-up or a proposal; with one click you can tell whether or not you’re on track. I also love that you are able to see how many bookings you have and what payments are coming up so you can track your monthly expenses and make sure that it matches up with what is coming in, etc. Honeybook has a reports feature that allows you to track analytics, including your booking percentage, your success rate, and the value of all your events combined all the way down to monthly reports! They also have a feature that allows you to set up email reminders that go out automatically to your clients so you don’t have to keep track of when payments are due! And you can even create personalized email templates right in the software so that you don’t have to rewrite that same email again and again!! I LOVE that!!

One-time Fee
That’s right, HoneyBook offers a lifetime membership for a one-time fee. When I first started thinking about making the switch I wanted something that didn’t have monthly fees. Honeybook offers a lifetime membership for a one-time fee of $500 with the ability to receive all future updates without having to pay anything additional. Plus when I found out they offer 20% off for Two Bright Lights members, I was sold!! $400 for a lifetime membership! Such an incredible deal!

Honeybook has been a tremendous game changer for my business so far! So excited to see where it will help take my business in the coming years. 5-star service and an amazing program all for a lifetime membership, to me, equals an incredible value! I can’t recommend them enough!! If you are looking for a client management program HoneyBook is definitely worth looking at!